“The greatest propaganda in the world is our mother tongue, that is what we learn as children, and which we learn unconsciously. That shapes our perceptions for life. That is propaganda at its most extreme form.” (McLuhan: Media in America 44) {not sure if I wanna use this}
Language has played a central role in the Kurdish struggle, is the most prominent element that strengthens Kurdish national identity and distinguishes them from other dominant ethnic groups: Persian, Arab and Turks. (Sheyholislami 160) In spite of the fragmentation in the Kurdish language, culture and land; the language has helped to keep Kurdish collective identity alive more than any other factor. The governments, Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria, have been fully aware of
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is treated as only one part of culture. In the case of the Kurds, language has to be viewed as one of the most important identity markers. (Sheyholislami …show more content…
The Kurdish language is as fragmented as the nation itself. The gap in the Kurdish language is widened by its a number of speech varieties, different writing systems, hegemonic lingual and cultural influence of those countries that Kurdistan is part of and their policies to systematically suppress the Kurdish language. {A source here} Kurdish has four dialects and two different writing systems. Kurdish has two major dialects, Sorani and Kurmanji and two minor dialects, Zazaki/Dimli, Gurani/Hewrami.Most Kurds speak Kurmanji around 60 percent. (Sheyholislami 60) it is spoken in Syria, Turkey and northern part of Kurdish speaking areas of Iran and Iraq, a group in Khorasan province of Iran and Armenia, Azerbaijan. Sorani is spoken in southern part of Kurdistan. The discrepancy between major dialects can be quite stark at times. As Kreyenbroek argues that a reason that the two could be dialects “...are their common origin, and the fact that this usage reflects the sense of ethnic identity and unity of the Kurds.” (on the Kurdish language Philip G.Kreyenbroek ) He further argues that linguistically, they could be classified as different languages. Grammatically they are as different as German and English. For example there are gender feminine and masculine nouns in Kurmanji but Sorani does not have gender he further argues that “ [d]ifferences in vocabulary and pronunciation are not as great as between German and
Ruiz, Alvarez Santiago Jaime. "Preservation Strategies of the Garifuna Language in the Context of Global Economy in the Village of Corozal in Honduras." Diss. University of Florida, 2008. Abstract. (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.
“Propaganda means any attempt to persuade anyone to a belief or to form an action. We live our lives surrounded by propaganda; we create enormous amounts of it ourselves; and we f...
Europeans who are much closer to the Kurds still do not have a complete understanding of the Kurds or the middle east in general: In the West, the left and liberal minded people in general, especially in the Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon countries, have usually supported or at least expressed some sympathy with the struggles against both European colonialism and U.S. policies in Vietnam. But as soon as the problem shifted to Biafra, Southern Sudan, Kurdistan or Eritrea - in short, whenever the national question was raised within a third world country - this section of the public opinion has tended to remain silent and confuesed.1
My research is in response to the essay “Culture Baggage” by Barbara Ehrenreich on page 298. In her writing, Ehrenreich discuses on language, race, and ethnicity and how it applies to cultural baggage. Ehrenreich points out that there were many of other people who already knew of their beliefs and culture and they stood proud for their roots and in heritage, as she slouched back into her seat as if she knew nothing about her culture or where she really were from. Culture refers to the learned and shared behaviors, beliefs, attitudes, values and material objects that characterize a particular group or society. Which is a group of people who share a culture and a defined territory, however society and culture go hand in hand neither
Ethnic Armenians have resided in the Middle Eastern region of the world since approximately 3500 BC. Armenians lived and still live in many Middle Eastern countries such as Armenia, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Azerbaijan, and the republic of Georgia. Armenians have their own language and alphabet and have a very unique culture, which has set them apart from other countries and ethnic groups. In 300 AD, there was not a single nation who had Christianity as their national religion. “Following the advent of Christianity, Armenia became the very first nation to accept it as the state religion.” Armenian pride in their culture and way of life never wavered, even throughout being conquered by different nations. Armenian lands were taken over by many different nations on several different occasions, but they finally ended up in the Ottoman Empire in the 1500s, when ...
People use language as a material object. Language is social in nature and language helps people to convey a message. Language is how humans communicate with each other. Language empowers, language makes the person’s needs known and language expresses what the person wants people to do. Language is how people interact and language makes a person’s identity, emotions and opinions known. Language helps a child to make sense of their world. Language helps older children to interact and belong to a group, Language also helps a child to understand the field, tenor and mode in situations, so that the child can critically evaluate and organize the
Dating back to the Ottoman Empire, tensions between the Kurds and the state were apparent. As the Republic of Turkey developed, a strong sense of nationalism engulfed the country, which led to the oppression of many non-Turkish elements of society. Through this oppression we see attempts in the 1920’s and 1930’s at Kurdish autonomy with the eventual development of the PKK in 1978. With the first armed attack against Turkish soldiers in 1984 we see the issue gaining pace and becoming more severe. The Kurdish problem has claimed the lives of around 35,000 people, displaced even more, and has created economic and political problems not only domestically, but also internationally. Becoming one of Turkeys most important security issues, there have been attempts at peace on multiple occasions, but until now they were to no avail. This essay attempts to address various aspects of the Kurdish Problem; the domestic implications the Kurdish problem has created, such as the political disarray that develops when discussing the creation of pro-Kurdish parties, their opposition, and their inability to have any form of success within the government. The “terror problem.” The economic impact associated with regions most closely related to the Kurdish people. International implications dealing with Turkey, it’s neighbors, and the United States. Syria and Iraq are essential to discuss when dealing with the Kurdish problem because they add greater context to an issue that spans along the borders of multiple states. Furthermore, this essay will conclude with a discussion of the resolution attempts to the decades long dilemma such as recent developments, expectations by both sides, and prospects for the future.
In 400 A.D. the Armenian alphabet it consisted of 36 letters but added 2 more after 800 years ago. When Dr. Jendian was pronouncing the Armenian letters, it sounded similar to the U.S., english pronunciation. This sort of alphabetical was potentially used to transliterate any language spoken on earth because it has bunch of letters, it can capture the sounds from all of the different languages that exist. Armenians has been on the crossroads since civilization, Armenian has been in the wrong place at the wrong time nearly throughout history. Armenia were in the crossroad from north to south and east to west where foreign countries were passing through the Silk Road, Black sea, Medit sea and the Caspian Sea therefore, they have been subjugated
Through Saddam Hussein’s tyrannical rule, ethnic and religious groups were subject to repression that ultimately involved foreign nations. One such group was the Kurdish people living in Iraq. Originally living in the nation of Kurdistan, a nation eliminated by the Allied Powers after World War I, over 20 million Kurds lived in parts of Iran, Iran, Turkey, and Syria (PBS). The Kurds were often used as pawns in Middle Eastern polit...
Kurdistan is a region that has existed in turmoil and is the “never was” country. The Kurds are the fourth largest ethnic group of the Middle East, numbering between 20 and 25 million. Approximately 15 million live in the regions of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria, an area they called Kurdistan, yet they do not have a country of their own. Formal attempts to establish such a state were crushed by the larger and more powerful countries in the region after both world wars. When the Ottoman Empire collapsed after World War I, the Kurds were promised their own independent nation under the Treaty of Sevres. In 1923 however, the treaty was broken allowing Turkey to maintain its status and not allowing the Kurdish people to have a nation to call their own. The end of the Gulf war, Iran-Iraq war, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the end of the cold war has reinvigorated a Kurdish Nationalist movement.
Aziz, Mahir. The Kurds of Iraq: Ethnonationalism and National Identity in Iraqi Kurdistan. London: Tauris Academic Studies, 2010. Print.
Language is a medium of communication and a carrier of culture because all that people know about their origin is communicated to them using language. In most cases mother tongues are suitable in expressing ones way of life. The native language is the best in expressing basic societal affairs. Language is the key medium of communication and it should be used in its simplest form because the simpler the language the easier the communication (Diyanni 633-639).
Language is a part of our everyday lives, and we can describe the meaning of language in many ways. As suggested in Gee and Hayes (2011, p.6 ) people can view language as something in our minds or something existing in our world in the form of speech, audio recordings, and writings or we can view language as a way of communicating with a group of people. Language can be used to express our emotions, make sense of our mental and abstract thoughts and assists us in communicating with others around us. Language is of vital importance for children to enable them to succeed in school and everyday life. Everyone uses both oral and written language. Language developed as a common ability amongst human beings with the change
Some indigenous languages have died with the elimination of their speakers through genocide or any other calamity. Secondly, many lost their existence because they were not documented and described. Weinreich (1953:68) defines language shift as a "change from the habitual use of one language to that of another". It means the number of speakers comes down in a downward movement, the speakers lose their proficiency and the language use decreases in every sphere of life (Baker and Jones, 1998). In this way, the minority languages shift their sympathies to the majority languages. The process of shift is sometimes so intense that the speakers of the weaker languages relinquish their local language completely (Rasul, 2006). According to Baker (2011) in the forthcoming century around 50 to 90 percent languages of the world will either die or will be on the threshold of